News & Blogs
Knicks’ OG Anunoby: Officially questionable – CBS Sports
The Knicks need to match the Pistons’ intensity to open the second half – Posting & Toasting
Guerschon Yabusele on amending Knicks contract to facilitate Bulls trade: ‘The passion is more than just the money’ – SNY
Knicks’ OG Anunoby toenail-less, but ready to play vs. Pistons – New York Daily News
P&T Round(ball) Table: Predictions for remainder of New York’s regular season – Posting & Toasting
Jose Alvarado immediately impacts Knicks in debut win over Celtics – SNY
Knicks vs Pistons – Recap & Reaction | POSTGAME SHOW | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
PISTONS at KNICKS | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | February 19, 2026 – NBA
Knicks News: Jalen Brunson Eyes His Next Deal | Sochan’s First Day | Dolan’s BIG Move? – Knicks Fan TV
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81 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.02.20)”
I think too much is made out of bad losses like this one. Like I said before the game, the Knicks didn’t NEED to win the game. It would have been nice, of course, but it wasn’t some necessity.
We all know that this team will be a hard out in the playoffs. Is it “important” to secure the 2nd or 3rd seed (or, preferably, the #1 seed. I’m not giving up yet!)? Sure, but really, there isn’t a team in the Eastern Conference that I would say that this team can’t beat in a seven game series. It doesn’t exist.
And luckily, the NBA moved to seven game series for every round years ago, which was SUCH a great idea. So I think the Knicks will be fine in the playoffs.
This loss still sucked, though. 😉
I don’t know how you have a week off and come out with that level of energy .
The biggest issue is that Brunson and Towns don’t play well off each other. No two man game . Neither guy is helping to make the other better . Is there two all stars team mates who help each other less than this pairing?
Towns getting outplayed by Paul Reed? How do you lose the rebounding battle?
Brown tactically as a coach doesn’t go after mismatches at all . Bridges should be more of a factor when defended by Duncan Robinson . OG was terrible and not sure why Hart played so much. I kind of liked Sochans minutes last night and he should’ve played more as he actually wanted to be on the court last night and gave proper effort. When a player is bumming it up they shouldn’t be gifted minutes . Only person who should get his minutes regardless is Brunson .
I should say Mike Brown is supposed to help with this and he has failed at it . As a coach who is supposed to be a solid offensive mind he should be getting plays going between the two and has given nothing on that front.
I have Mike Browns coaching so far this season at a “C” grade.
OG gets a pass because he was out for so long. They missed some threes they should have made early. Detroit seemed to always hit a big shot when we started gaining momentum.
Honestly I don’t think the loss was as bad as it appeared at the end as it was relatively competitive until the 4th.
In a way it’s good for us to know now how tough it’s going to be to beat this team. Brown and the coaching staff have a few months to figure it out. Hopefully he can pull a Thibs vs Boston and pull out some never seen defensive and offensive schemes that surprise Detroit.
The two issues are 1) Towns on offense (and working with Brunson) and 2) slowing down Cade. Seriously, if we slow down Cade we can beat these guys but Cade has turned into a legit superstar. He’s big, he plays two ways and he’s methodical and hard to rattle.
I’d rather have us lose last night like this than get lucky hitting some threes and think we got this no problem. Detroit is really good. They also might be a little cocky going into the playoffs and facing us if it gets to that.
There’s also the possibility that they lose before we would have to face them!
You would hope so because one thing I see from Brown in the regular season is zero counter moves . If this is all he has then he is headed towards lame duck status.
The only chance of this is if the Knicks are the 2 or 3 seed because the Pistons aren’t losing in the 1st round against whoever the East opponent is.
With the Cavs possibly rising the Knicks could easily fall into the 4 vs 5 1st rd and DET RD.2
Spot the trend:
Last 3 games:
L to Pacers : 7 of 42 comments
W over Sixers: 0 of 86 comments
L to Pistons: 4 of 6 (or with this post 7) comments
OG was awful.
Towns is a mystery.
Still, there were so many ways we could have won this game. Not that concerned about the result.
After the game, Towns was asked if there was an emphasis to get the ball inside against the short-handed Pistons.
“I mean, our offense is our offense. It’s been that way all year,” Towns said. “So we have our system and we’re gonna — regardless of who’s in the game or not in the game — we run the system that we have implemented for our team to the best of our abilities”
Questionable Towns postgame quote. I guess he means the offense is to never get him the ball 🏀
*deep sigh*
As great as Anunoby can be on both ends, Brunson is still the only player better than KAT. Why do we not feed him?? We looked incompetent and not cohesive last night, and I’m thinking it’s because of more than the Pistons’ great defense. We have got to be willing to impose our will, and I didn’t see that outside of Brunson. OG tried, but he gets a little of a pass with it being his 1st game back on what I assume is a still tender big toe. Is it KAT not demanding the ball, or guys just not getting it to him? KAT should have worked the hell out of the Pistons and gone for 40 last night. I refuse to believe that it is that easy to mentally take our Knicks out of a game. I refuse. It certainly wasn’t like that under Thibs. As finesse as most people think our players are- those guys fought last season. You mean to tell me that we couldn’t impose our will against a Stewart and Duren-less Pistons squad?? KAT couldn’t take Paul Reed’s food?? The guys didn’t have enough pride to push through the physicality?
The word for today is flabbergasted
Good amount of time in the second unit when Alvarado was in and Towns didn’t get the ball as well.
I agree. It’s very frustrating to see Towns like this. That quote is telling, though, because it points to not just him being “unhappy” but also to the bigger fear I’ve had about Brown that his “improved offense” is just really shoot more threes and “spray the ball” which can be great for the regular season against most teams but does he have another way for the team to play when they face a team like Detroit that can take that away.
That being said, if they can some three’s early, it gives them confidence, takes some away from Detroit, opens things up and maybe it’s a different game?
But KAT hast not really gone off in a game all season. Maybe once or twice against some weaker teams. Its’ concerning.
Also, not really liking that Jalen made that contract comment right before this game coming out of the break. He may believe he deserves to get hella paid in his next contract and maybe The Knicks should even do that after he’s brought this franchise back. But making that comment when his next extension is years away at this point, it points to some selfishness and me first attitude. That’s stuff to worry about when contract negotiations are underway. Not in the middle of a season. Also, dude did not take a pay cut, lol. I love Brunson but that narrative is a little overblown. He locked in the guaranteed money now instead of waiting a year to get the bigger contract. That isn’t “leaving money on the table” because the money he’s now owed is guaranteed to him even if he gets a serious injury.
I don’t know. Hopefully the vibes aren’t off again and it was just a bad night.
I will say this. If we do face detroit in the playoffs and we do beat them, I then VERY much like our chances of winning it all. Cause I do think they are maybe the best team in the NBA this season.
OG had a rough game on both sides, but I’m going to give him a pass off the injury layoff. He’ll be fine. Besides, the team was a +1 in his minutes. He was the only Knick with a postive on/off for the game. Ironically Towns was a 0 and everyone else negative.
IMO the major problems are that Towns and Brunson are a bad pairing on both sides of the ball, Brown is getting outcoached against Detroit and Detroit is just a tough matchup for us. They are young, deep, very energetic against us and have defenders that give Brunson a tough time
I hate to be like this, but as far as I am concerned Brunson and almost anyone else is bad pairing. He’s great at creating his own shot and handling big game pressure, but he’s terrible on defense and doesn’t make other players better in the way a PG should. He’s obviously a plus player, but imo he’s wildly overrated because there’s so much focus on the elite skills he does have and because it’s NY. But he has signficant downsides as a player and PG.
If Brunson is not going to make Towns better, Brown has no good ideas, Towns feels he’s not getting the ball the way he wants it and Brunson is untouchable, I think Towns has to go in the off season. IMO Towns is a very good player. It’s just a bad pairing. If they don’t figure it out soon, it HAS to be broken up.
OG being a (+) 1 doesn’t match the eye test. He wasn’t getting cooked by Cade and took 13 shots for 8 points. He wasn’t close to a neutral player last night .
Last night sucked major monkey balls but it wasn’t to me about lack of energy honestly it really came down to as JVG likes to say its a make or miss league. Would like to see the shot quality expected score for last night but I don’t have the patience or time right now to learn where to find those stats.
Fuck it just bounce back and win on Saturday night, don’t let the next couple of weeks become another 2-9 stretch before the inevitable 8 game winning streak during the cupcake portion of the schedule in March.
Coming in I felt this was something akin to a ‘trap game’ given the makeup of our team. So not too surprised or depressed by what happened.
Much of the rest of the season for me will be watching to see if we can start hitting on all cylinders for the playoffs. I’m not convinced the team can do that for extended periods, so doing it closer to the playoff would be fine. IF the team can hit on all cylinders we can go a very long way. I’m not convinced they can, since it’s mostly been for a quarter or three at a time at best.
I hate to think we’re rooting for a group of prima donnas, but I’m starting to wonder.
Wins against mediocre and weak teams mean nothing. We got plenty of those. I had been waiting for this current difficult stretch all year. It will show who we really are and how far we can go. So far, we got humiliated by Detroit twice, had a good win against Denver at home, and a very promising win in Boston. Saturday will be another good test against another physical team.
**was**
“But KAT hast not really gone off in a game all season. Maybe once or twice against some weaker teams. Its’ concerning.”
He had 32/20/6 on 10-of-12 shooting (5-of-5 on 3s) in a 26-point victory over the Wolves back on December 19. He also had 44/13/2 on 17-of-25 shooting (4-of-5 on 3s) in a 9-point victory over the Heat back on October 30 (although you might think that that game doesn’t count if you think of them as a “weaker team” or it being close enough to the beginning of the season that it was before he started playing badly).
Any comments on Silver’s anti-tanking “announcements” from yesterday (such as not being able to pick in the Top 4 in consecutive years)?
Don’t forget we’re missing our best 3pt shooter (Deuce).
That is what Macri opened up his post game with last night . He called them a very “unlikeable team” that he has zero attachment to .
Detroit was missing Duren and Stewart.
Towns had 39 points 13-26 shooting with six threes on NOV. 14 vs the Heat at MSG in a cup game . Brunson didn’t play in that game ..
BernieErnie says:
February 20, 2026 at 09:17
Spot the trend:
Last 3 games:
L to Pacers : 7 of 42 comments
W over Sixers: 0 of 86 comments
Updated:
L to Pistons: 11 of 24 comments
I agree. I think he wasn’t himself on either side. He’s the kind of guy that puts out a lot of energy defensively and he just didn’t have it off the layoff.
OG still had the lowest DRTG despite spending the most time on Cade. He was the best option on him.
The play immediately after we took OG out, Cade crossed up Mikal, wove his way by Mitch, and put KAT on a poster. The three plays after that he followed up with another bucket and 2 consecutive assists.
OG blocked Cade 3 times last night.
Anunoby got beat badly but everyone else gave up a free lane to the basket against almost everyone else.
I just want to point out that the Knicks as a team shot like Game-7-John-Starks from 3 for the first half+. They were something like 1 of 14 at the half from 3, and at some point they were 4-25. Most of those were good looks too, just didn’t sink.
OG was a terrible 1-8 from trey, but even without him KAT, Alvarado & Mikal were a combined 1-12!
I don’t know, finished the game wondering how much of what happened was based on our play, and to what extent did the pistons dictate the play…
not sure why our offense seemingly totally ignores any kind of beneficial matchups we may have out on the floor…
no stewart, no duren – feed KAT please, from the flipping jump…reed looked way to comfortable that first half…
seems like the loss was more than just us not hitting our shots, felt like they were out hustling us most of the night…
Excellent piece on Bob Voulgaris and his purchase of a lower division Spanish soccer team which he has on track for a promotion to La Liga.
Summary – The Nerds won.
https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/haralabos-voulgaris-basketball-betting-la-liga-castellon-t0vtvnbft
Best quotes
“The lowest hanging fruit in basketball is a three-point shot is worth more than a two-point shot, so don’t take long [range] two-point shots,” Voulgaris says. “The lowest hanging fruit in football is even bigger. A win is worth three times more than a draw, so you should have extremely high variance because you want to have as few draws as possible. The maths is really simple.”
Also, good bit about how he exploited fact teams shot better in front of their own bench.
“From thereon, it was a cat-and-mouse game of staying ahead of the bookmakers. Voulgaris’ most lucrative secret was when he spotted a pattern for certain teams to score significantly more points in the half when they were shooting in front of their own bench — a trend the bookmakers didn’t account for when setting the over-under handicap on half-time points totals.
“That was the biggest edge ever,” he says. “Like truly, I’m still astounded, and once I realised that, it was just about getting however much money I could to bet, and I started getting involved with credit betting through illegal bookmakers.”
wonder what formula dude used to find such an incredibly cute pooch…
The Pistons are clearly for real, for all the reasons I stated yesterday. Cade is a superstar on his way to becoming a top-3 player in the league. Their bench is very good and very deep. Tobias Harris seems liberated from the disappointing max contract fail during the Embiid Follies and is playing the role of vet glue guy on a middling salary. Javonte Green seems like he’s playing the most inspired ball of his career. Paul Reed looks like the guy we hoped to get in Yabusele.
This continuing narrative that the regular season is meaningless as a crutch to prop up our playoff chances is obviously impossible to disprove until playoff time, but this team had better wake up. It seems kinda demoralized whenever they get embarrassed in a “should win” game. Like they know that there’s something wrong with them.
And KAT? I know he had a strong stretch in there, but mostly he got completely outplayed by fucking Paul Reed. He can take his double-double and stick it up his ass. It is sickening watching him flail around out there, especially on D.
The KAT Flails on offense are equally ridiculous. It’s like he just barrels towards the basket knowing he has a 50/50 shot between getting an offensive foul called on him by holding off with his left arm, or drawing a foul on an opponent. Not great odds.
I really don’t remember him doing this last year, and certainly not to the point that it was pervasive, as it is now. Am I misremembering?
Last regular season NY vs Boston was mostly about three point variance and schemes. NY was just not quick and alert enough with rotations to minimize open shots and Boston made them at an incredible rate. Boston went ice cold in the 4th quaters of first two games with a few bad decisions and ended up down 2:0.
NY vs Detroit is very different. It’s purely about physicallity and grit. There is no game to game variance in physicality…it’s constant. In the playoffs, refs swallow the whistle and allow contact at a higher rate so the delta will only be amplified.
Knicks can win if they match their intensity physically, hit threes at normal clip and double Cade. Force others to beat us by making outside shots. Cade was super hot all game and MB never trapped him once.
Also, more Sochan will help. Other than that step back low percentage three, Sochan guarded him well multiple posessions ina row with a block and a steal.
In NY you have to play hard and the right way every night or you’ll lose the fans. The Knicks get outrun, out hustled and out worked some nights. It doesn’t feel like they lost. It feels like they didn’t show up or care enough. That was not the feeling a couple of years ago even though this team is more talented. Plus, the offense just doesn’t look right some nights even when there’s movement. It’s not purposeful movement. Too many shots are forced or rushed.
I honestly don’t get this idea that that the Knicks were outworked and outhustled last night. They missed a ton of open shots and had no answer for Cade. I don’t think it was a matter of the other team “wanting it more” or some bullshit, we were just out of sync all night, particularly OG
And Macri, give me a break with the unlikeable team crap. I’m sure you weren’t saying that when the Knicks were on an 8 game winning streak and leading the NBA in defensive numbers.
Magic hit 27-of-50 on 3s last night. Talk about 3-point variance!!! (Then again, it was against the Kings.)
Lakers reportedly making an “aggressive push” for Giannis.
If we shoot 15% from 3 we aren’t going to beat anyone, let alone top team in the east.
https://x.com/_the6thman/status/2024762938771321102 Ironman streak
Yeah fuck that, Macri. Calling the team unlikeable after they lose to Detroit is the definition of being a fair weather fan.
They are plenty “likeable” whatever the fuck that actually means.
I also don’t think the team didn’t play hard last night. The first half was plenty competitive then Detroit had that run at the end to get it 10. Knicks fought well enough in the third, missed some shots and Detroit just had an answer whenever we started to get momentum.
Detroit is maybe the best team in the league this season and also the exact type of team that gives us trouble. Leon brought in Alvarado and Sochan for this exact reason but they’re still brand new to the team.
Let’s see how they do this next stretch. They have till the playoffs to sit with these losses and they know exactly what needs to be done to beat Detroit. There will be no false confidence going into a series with them and that could be a good thing.
I mean yeah this team drives me fucking nuts as you all can tell from my game thread rants but this is by far my favorite Knicks team to root for since JVG was the head coach.
It’s unfortunate that KAT is having the worst season of his career, but that’s where we’re at. The rebounding is nice but he has been a pedestrian offensive player all year and considering how much he gives back on defense, he’s just really not a winning player. If we’re going to make any noise in the postseason, KAT has to be way better than he’s been, and that is starting to look less likely as the season progresses.
other than penetrate and spray (then pray) the big “thing” MB harps on is the 50/50 balls…
more rebounds, blocks, assists…sure seemed like they out hustled us…with out 2 of their key rotation players…
felt like cade single handedly dominated us…is double teaming a scorching hot player strictly verboten or something…
yuck yuck yuck…
yeah, maybe MB is simply saving all his good strategy moves until the playoffs…sure, that’s what’s happening…
macri has the emotional stability of a hungry/sleepy/ill toddler…
I agree. I think they tried hard last night, particularly in the first half. The problem in my view is that we were out-schemed and out-coached. I am still waiting for Brown to come up with effective strategies and in-game adjustments particularly against top physical teams like Detroit. I haven’t seen enough so far this season and I am not very optimistic, but time will tell.
BB, if we had JVG on the bench, or Thibs for that matter, we would be competing for a title. I don’t think we are there now. Unless Brown has something surprising in his sleeve for the post-season. Again, not much optimism there but time will tell.
Like Brown and KAT. But pulling KAT for the remainder of each of the first two quarters with KAT responding to the first benching with 3 FGA in 12 minutes tells me dysfunction. Sort it. Not sure how to but as we have seen a winning streak won’t. And choosing one over the other is a fool’s game at this point. Time for Leon to show his leadership.
He’s a very likeable guy but he’s mostly just a diehard fan like us.
When I want to hear views on the Knicks other than my own or here, I usually listen to the Zach Lowe podcast. He has an informed opinion, often has great guests and is also super likeable. Plus he covers more than the Knicks. So I sometimes pick up little things I missed about other teams.
That would make me feel better if I thought we shot 15% all due to randomness, but I don’t. They defend well and close out really well. So even when we are open we rush shots. Some of it may be noise, but some of it is Detroit.
I will give Macri some grace because he puts out great content and is probably just overreacting to an individual loss.
What I hope he means is that the way this team is playing is suggesting that the whole is less than the sum of the parts, at least for now. We are losing games in disturbing fashion, and our players don’t seem to be on the same page, or even like each other.
And in an even larger sense, the pressure to win this year is at the highest level it has been since the 1990’s.
The roster on paper is better than any since the ’90s (with perhaps the exception of the month between when we acquired OG and when Julius went down.) The long-derided and allegedly ceiling-lowering flaws of Thibs as head coach have been excised and replaced with a different brand of flawed head coach. These two developments, along with the sabbatical of the Pacers and expected sabbatical of the Celtics have given this season a “it’s now or never” feel.
And as such, the regular season has taken on a completely different feel than it has had since the ’90s. Most of us diehard fans came into this season feeling that nothing really mattered much because it was 100% about making it to the finals. The only thing the regular season determined would be seeding, and even that was viewed as hardly relevant because barring disaster, we’d have home court in the first round.
So the “unlikeable” comment seems to be more about “the way we are playing given the stakes of this season is unpleasant to experience.” And the blame for that falls on 3 sets of shoulders: KAT, Brown, and Cap, in that order.
I don’t think KAT can cop out behind “hey, this is Brown’s shitty offense and I’m doing the best I can with it” to explain his shitty play. As intelligent fans, we know when players make bad plays and bad decisions, or just doesn’t have it no matter what the game plan. A reasonable number of them are forgivable. KAT is way over that number in virtually every game, and especially our losses. I would compare him to peak Zach Randolph during his Knicks tenure, where he’d put up tons of double-doubles but would always feel like he did as much harm as good, if not more. On top of that, KAT has a very off-putting way of whining, both actively to the refs and passive-aggressively to the media. And he hasn’t stepped up to put the team on his back and win us a tough game in like forever. So I will agree with whatever part of Macri’s “unlikeable” comment is aimed at KAT. I often hate watching him play, and rarely love it. KAT shooting 46.6% from the field at a .522 eFG% is very unpleasant to watch.
Brown is a different kind of frustrating than Thibs. Probably better in enough ways to kind of let it go, but there is definitely an unsettling feeling about his inability to foster a consistent team identity. We are 56 games in and I still don’t know what to expect from this team on any given night, other than Brunson is gonna find a way.
And then Jalen himself…have we become too dependent on him, to the point that he’s got some teflon on him? Is the Captain making anyone better? He has some great games and some amazing clutch performances, but is any of the “unlikeable” nature of our bad performances on him for not building up his teammates? It’s a fair question.
“If we shoot 15% from 3 we aren’t going to beat anyone, let alone top team in the east.”
Where is this “15% from 3” even coming from? We shot 8-of-35 (23%), which is awful, but which also still isn’t 15%. (And by the way, the Clippers shot 8-of-33 from 3 for 24% last night, and still beat the Nuggets by a point.)
This is where I think the 3 point shooting thing can really be about confidence. Brunson hit his first shot of the game, a three. He ends up having a pretty decent game. But then we miss a bunch in a row early. Even if they were defended well, sometimes those go in and if they do, that creates confidence.
You see this all the time. How does that random dude keep hitting threes? It’s because he hit a few early and now he’s feeling it. Good defense can fuck with the confidence early and then you miss the ones you should make. Conversely, good shooting early can demoralize the other team’s defense, then they start closing out a bit more lazily, don’t rotate as well and you start hitting everything.
It kind of gets back to my biggest question/beef with Brown. Is he implementing an offense that’s going to make us susceptible to a cold streak like the celtics had against us in games one and two last year and can the team win any other way besides the offense playing well.
This is the Thibs vs. Brown debate. Thibs teams don’t fly as high on offense but the variable is lower, they stay in games they have no business staying in and can pull wins out of their ass. Brown so far is a team that looks AMAZING when playing well but can’t “win ugly.”
Sochan overplayed a couple of screens and was way out of position on the re-screen.
He didn’t really do anything for the steal. They through it right to him on a miscommunication.
He definitely bothered Cade at times and held up well 1-on-1.
I think we watched different games.
On the second 3 of the game, OG catches the ball with 11 on the shot clock and DET doesn’t even start running out till the shot clock hits 9. OG lines it up and takes the shot 5ft away from the defender and still bricks.
Even if they had fantastic closeouts, the Knicks should still shoot well above 20%
Even if Brown is fucking up every other part of his game, the system isn’t causing KAT to have 15 more offensive fouls than the guy with the 2nd most offensive fouls.
KAT at 49 has more than double the offensive fouls of 6th place Siakam at 24.
the next time it seems like we are purposefully attacking another team’s defense or specific player, someone please point it out…
our “system” seems to want to freeze out our 50 million dollar offensive weapon…
there’s got to be more to it than penetrate and spray and pray…
it was funny, during the post game interviews – alvarado looked like some random new yorker, you would see just about anywhere in the city, had snuck in to the locker room…
I like him 😀
“there’s got to be more to it than penetrate and spray and pray…”
KAT isn’t even bothering with the “spray” part. He is only (sort of) penetrating and then praying.
It seemed like we were purposefully attacking Ausar Thompson last night
I will say that I do think KAT is not getting a good whistle this season. Maybe the complaining is annoying the refs?
Like the call that was overturned and it turned into an offensive foul. Yes, he was using his elbows to create space or whatever but he was also being pounded by 2 Detroit defenders (hence the initial call of a foul on Detroit). One of them even poked him in the eye!
It’s rare when a big man has the ball in the paint like that for there not to be contact initiated on both sides but usually if the defender is being overly aggressive like that, they’re the ones who get called for the foul and not the offensive player who is “defending” themselves. This is different than him hooking his arm or whatever but I do see what I think are fouls where he doesn’t seem to get the call this season.
I’m way past complaining about the whistle KAT gets. Read any other team’s blog and you will see posters whining about how one of their stars gets a shitty whistle.
KAT gets the whistle he gets. It’s on him to adapt. If he can’t, there is no defending his continual whining, which probably just makes refs more likely to ignore him.
KAT took 3 FGA in the first half of a statement game against a second stringer guarding him. Not sure that has ever happened with a big man whose career average is at least 12FGA per game., barring injury, game ejection or age decline.
*Third stringer
A reporter should ask KAT – “Why does Brown’s offensive scheme have you stand there & beg for calls as the other team runs up the court with the ball?”
My hypothesis for KAT’s lack of calls (outside of bad refereeing, which feels worse than ever but seems equal opportunity in most cases) is his flailing. He makes so much contact and throws his arms around so much that it partly hides other people whacking him. I sort of understand if a ref just shrugs and decides to move on to the next play rather than try to untangle the mess that’s been made.
KAT has never heard of the boy who cries wolf. He seems to be frequently upset, and I would imagine somewhere between 25% & 75% of his outbursts are non-calls. If he toned it down to once or twice a game & just ate the rest in silence, I bet he would get a lot more calls. Get fouled once – tell the ref quietly at the next stoppage that “you missed that one.” Do it again at stoppage – “you missed another one – see the mark?”. Third time – ok now react visibly. Fourth non-call “hey ref – I’m not even bothering to protest, just don’t be calling it on me when I’m playing defense.” Fifth call – call their name & stare at them angrily.
Like use that reaction to your advantage, not to your deficit.
the more he struggles the worse his histrionics become…
he doesn’t spend much time there, but maybe use him more from the post…
I know the Wiz GM won’t let this happen, but if Utah starts out-tanking Washington, we could gain a slim chance at that lottery pick.
That’s all I’ve got rn.
When Brown isn’t looking, KAT doodles an X on the coach’s clipboard under the wrong basket with a speech bubble shouting expletives.
He also adds all the refs as opposing players.
I don’t know where you guys come up with this stuff sometimes?
Thibs and JVG coached 25 seasons in the NBA and COMBINED, competed for a title exactly once!
The Knicks are a good but flawed team. Their best player (by a bunch) is a very good too short shooting guard who does virtually none of the primary point guard functions. The next time he comes into a game thinking, “I’m gonna get OG or KAT or Bridges going early,” will be the first time.
That’s not being mean to Brunson, just the fact of the matter. The Knicks are a 50 ish win team that is flawed from a championship perspective.
Anyone watching last year’s playoff knew Detroit was going to be a load with just a little improvement from Thompson, Duren and Cade. Lo an behold they are sporting the best record in the league.
I don’t get all the kvetching? Enjoy a team the is somewhere from the 3rd to 7th best in the league and has a chance. WTF?
still bummed about yesterday, but co-sign on this sentiment…
According to SRS this regular season so far has been the best since the 1993-94 season and the 6th best overall in franchise history. Don’t know if that’s a compliment to this current team or an indictment on the history of this franchise.
Kon Kneuppel might just be the next Klay Thompson
thought nipples was a good bit bigger than megan’s bo, turns out they’re about the same size…maybe it’s just the ginormous coconut nipples has that makes him appear larger…
For the past couple of seasons, since the “contender” narrative came along, I never supported it even once. I never thought we had the roster for that and posted comments on this issue several times. I think you are correct, this team is roughly top five to top ten in the league. At the same time, we know that the Eastern Conference has been wide open this season. Even Detroit was not deemed to be the favorite until very recently. Furthermore, the additions to the Knicks roster last summer and this February, as well as the improved defense during the past several weeks, slightly added to this team’s potential. Hence, a run to the ECF could not be excluded. Not likely but not shocking either. For this possibility, I commented, we would need some better coaching in terms of game preparation, game strategy, and in-game adjustments. Now, there is no doubt Mike Brown is a very good coach. There is no such thing as bad coach in the NBA. I just happen to believe that coaches such as JVG, Thibs, Spoelstra, and others, are better at those things. In such a scenario, we would not have been leveled by the Pistons three times, would have performed better than .500 against good teams, and so on. Other things equal, we would take our chances against the Pistons or any other team in the ECF for a trip to the NBA finals as underdogs. I may be wrong in my overall assessment – I understand that. As I wrote, the future will tell.
If the use of the words “contending for a title” was hyperbolic, then this was my fault. Wrong words! There is, however, another type of hyperbole which is as old as it is bizarre. I mean the reaction of the medieval peasant whose thinking is neither penetrating, nor flexible, nor patient, and throws hyperbolic jaw-dropping expressions and grimaces at anything he does not like, understand, or agree with.
Pacers tank so easily when they don’t play the Knicks. At least the Wizards won ..
Kenny Atkinson now 1 game ahead of Mike Brown
Underestimate medieval peasants at your own peril. They produced such thinkers as Kepler and William of Ockham 🙂
I am and have been so confused by the long-standing argument about being a contender. Look it up. It means competing for a title.
Every team that’s not tanking is contending for a title.
Now, do we have a realistic chance of winning a title? That’s another question altogether. We’re currently listed fourth on the NBA Power Rankings. That means there are three teams currently considered having a better chance, and 26 teams with lesser chances.
Do *I* think we have a realistic chance of winning a title? We get our shit together, we can beat anyone. So far, however, we’ve been wildly inconsistent, so I’m not holding my breath. I am going to try and enjoy the ride as best I can, however, even though I’m not a big fan of roller coasters.
If we get it together, we may have a chance, however low. But we have yet to show this. As I wrote above, and not for the first time, our record against good teams is around .500, and this is not very encouraging. Can we get it together and have that low chance?
If anyone could name the Grizzlies’ starting lineup tonight without looking, I’d be either very impressed or very concerned.
the regular season can be a bit agonizing riding the ups and downs of team performance, injuries and whatnot – gotta get to the post-season and just figure out a way to win 4 games each series…
was thinking for a minute that the top 4 in the east could compete with the top four in the west…top clubs in the west are doing much better against plus .500 squads though…
gg jackson…know it only cuz i like the sound of his name though…
curious z-man, did you drop any weight the last month or so…not always the case, but last bunch of years was mostly a causal beer drinker, bit of a soda fiend though…
when I started watching my sugar and got more careful with my fluids intake was able to drop like 10 to 15 pounds…
a slim telly could totally slay the ladies (lady in your case) 😊